In this issue:

A new study of American families reveals that spanking tends to inhibit the mental development of children. In a four-year study of 960 families, UNH researcher Murray Straus and his colleagues in the Family Research Laboratory found that the cognitive ability of children whose parents avoided corporal punishment developed faster than those whose parents slapped or spanked them.

The new research also reveals that the more children are hit, the worse they perform on cognitive ability, or IQ, tests. After accounting for variables such as ethnicity, education and income levels of parents, the study showed that children who are spanked are at greater risk of falling behind their peers.

Straus says his research offers good news for parents and for the country. "Everyone wants to have smarter kids, and this is something that can make kids smarter that doesn't require tutors or additional money. And if we could cut down on corporeal punishment, it could make a tremendous positive difference across the country."

Straus believes parents who use non-physical approaches to discipline give their children a developmental edge. "If you don't spank, you have to explain, reason and talk more with your children, and that promotes their mental development," he explains.

The use of corporeal punishment as a way of disciplining children is declining in the U.S. and worldwide, according to Straus. He attributes the change to higher education levels, greater awareness of the negative effects of violence, and to the evolving needs of post-industrial societies. "We have shifted from hand work to head work; most people make their living today by manipulating people and ideas," he says. "It's a world where verbal and reasoning skills and team work are more important than unquestioning obedience."

This study is the latest result of ongoing research by Straus into the effects of violence on children. His previous studies have shown that the use of corporeal punishment has lifelong effects, increasing people's incidence of depression, substance abuse, delinquency, and violent behaviors.

A decade ago--just as the Iron Curtain that divided Europe was about to fall--an international group of scientists witnessed a startling phenomenon. As their bus toured the countryside of Poland and Czechoslovakia, the scientists observed mile after mile of dead and dying trees--a near total collapse of the forest ecosystem. They were stunned.

"We had no idea how bad it was," admits Barrett Rock, a researcher in the University's Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space who was part of a delegation sent to Central Europe in 1989 by the United Nations' Environment Program (UNEP) to study of the effects of air pollution on forests. By the end of their stay, the scientists resolved to do something to help.

In addition to gathering satellite data, Rock has returned to Europe nearly every summer with teams of UNH students and researchers to conduct ground testing on trees to determine their state of health. Their research has provided government agencies and environmental groups with the data they needed to begin taking action to save their forests.

In the Czech Republic, for example, the government is shutting down polluting coal mines, installing scrubbers on smokestacks, and levying heavy fines against polluters. These fines have provided the funding needed to plant more resilient species of trees and to spread fertilizer by helicopter across the damaged forests. And the recent data collected by Rock and his team show promising signs of life springing up amid the once barren trees.

In August, Rock and his team were back in Europe to monitor a burgeoning success story in which they played a role. The team arrived with new sensors developed by NASA that they installed in a small plane to detect tree damage or recovery in its early stages, and which enabled the scientists to, in Rock's words, "be physicians rather than undertakers."

Rock marvels at the breadth of change--both environmental and political--in less than a decade. "We used a Russian plane flown by a Czech pilot who was once trained on MiG planes to fight against us," he recalls. "It's an amazing international collaboration that could not have happened 10 years ago."

In some rural communities in the U.S., poverty runs in families, generation after generation. The cycle of poverty and dependence persists, conventional wisdom tells us, because poor adults pass their lack of self-discipline and responsibility on to their children.

But Mil Duncan, a UNH sociologist, suspected these common assumptions about the poor didn't fully explain why people and places fail to change. She wanted to learn how poor children can escape poverty and communities can build strong, resilient economies. In a five-year study of three rural towns in Mississippi, Appalachia, and Northern New England, Duncan interviewed 350 people and analyzed census data dating back 100 years in search of clues about the residents' beliefs, goals, and opportunities. Her findings challenge many prevailing stereotypes about the poor.

In the Mississippi Delta and Appalachia, Duncan found towns starkly divided into "haves and have-nots." The "haves," who live well in the county seat and covet their own schools, churches, youth groups and country clubs, control access to community resources and the few jobs in the area. Meanwhile the "have-nots" dwell in dilapidated housing on the outskirts of town and send their children to the same poor, inferior schools that they attended.

In the northern New England mill town, Duncan found that industry owners live in town next to workers, and all residents send their children to the same, good-quality schools. The community has a strong blue-collar middle class, and all people take part in town activities, creating a rich and diverse culture.

The towns evolved differently: the two towns in the South were founded by wealthy plantation owners and coal barons who encouraged segregation by class, while paternalistic, civic-minded mill owners presided over the northern town in its early days. Class divisions became entrenched in the southern towns, severing the poor from the heart of community life and any chances to improve their lives.

"Escaping poverty and bringing about social change is inalterably tied to how class and politics work every day in a community, to how the community is organized and how people treat one another, " Duncan says.

Everyone knows recycling is a great idea, but in practice, it has yielded some spectacular failures. Remember the Northwest highway built with recycled tires that made national headlines several years ago when it caught on fire? Or Iowa's Route 20, constructed with concrete made of waste material, which broke into pieces after just 10 years?

The U.S. generates 4.5 billion pounds of industrial waste every year, most of which is destined for landfills unless it can be turned into paving materials. Yet little is known about how to transform trash into strong, environmentally safe materials suitable for building the nation's roads.

With recent approval of the federal Highway Bill, UNH will receive $9 million over the next six years to establish a national Recycled Material Resource Center, overseeing the testing of recycled materials and creation of national standards for the recycling process. Along with researchers from a consortium of institutions, UNH will subject materials such as old tires, glass, and plastic to tests that simulate the stresses roads endure, from heavy truck traffic to freezing and thawing and acid rain

"Every waste producer in the country eyes the nation's highways as linear landfills," says David Gress, professor of civil engineering. "You need to be able to predict what would happen over the life of the highway--which can be well over 30 years."

"This center will be an excellent resource for our entire nation," says Senator Bob Smith (R-NH), who along with Congressman Charles Bass (R-NH) and Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), helped secure federal funding for recycling research projects at UNH and for the creation of the center. "By methodically addressing legitimate concerns, it will create sound ways to use materials now being discarded as waste."